One More Salvation

"We no longer believe because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and 

know that this really is the Savior of the world."

John 4:42

Question: Why did Jesus come from Heaven to earth? 

 Answer: To fulfill God's plan of salvation

I assume that some of you reading this knew the answer to that question and are probably wondering where I'm going with this, but let's stop and think through this together. I am often reminded from reading the Bible that God has plans for me. He is going to use my whole life, everything in it. Everything has a purpose and he made me and the people in my life for a specific reason. Now if we believe God has things He wants to accomplish through us, we had better believe He had things He wanted to accomplish through His Son in his time on earth. 

If you aren't familiar with Jesus's ministry on earth, I'll try to give you a quick summary. Luke 3:23 tells us that Jesus started his ministry when he was about 30 years old. From that point until He was arrested and crucified and raised from the dead, He went around to different towns performing miracles and telling people about His Father. He would go to temples and talk to religious leaders to teach them the meaning of God's word. As you can imagine, Jesus knew he was pretty limited on time and the Lord had everything mapped out so that He could fulfill His plan. This is why I love the story in the beginning of John 4 and have been reading and re-reading it in preparation for my internship in San Francisco with a non-profit organization called Because Justice Matters.

Jesus is travelling between towns and ends up stopping at a well that was located in Samaria around noon and while he was there a woman came to get water. Now we can say, "Oh! What a coincidence this woman came to the well the same time Jesus did!" or we can (correctly) say, "Oh! Jesus knew this woman would be getting water at this well at this specific time." Jesus then proceeds to have a conversation with this woman and we find out that she has had 5 different husbands and was living with a man that was not her husband. The reason she is at the well alone is because she waits to come draw water during the hot part of the day in ordered to avoid being judged by the other women who draw their water much earlier. He offers her living water and explains how He is the only one that can truly fulfill her and satisfy her. (John 4: 1-26)

The first point I want to make is that Jesus meets her where she is. He goes to her town and has a conversation with her in order to get to know her and explain who He is. (So He is explaining the Gospel. He is the Gospel. He is explaining who He is, the Gospel. Just think about how cool that is for a minute.) He is patient with her and hears and answers her questions. This why I am so excited to intern with Because Justice Matters the rest of this summer. They meet girls where they are at and love them like Jesus does. I can not wait to start working on Monday!!

The next point I want to make is the disciples reaction in verse 27, "Just then His disciples arrived, and they were amazed that He was talking with a woman." Jesus is just disrupting all kinds of social norms and unwritten rules!! During this time period the common Jewish teaching was that talking too much to women was a waste of time. So what does Jesus do? He takes time out of His crazy schedule of performing miracles and talking to the most important people of the time to have a conversation with one woman. A woman that is not even related to him. Jesus is showing His disciples, us, and this woman that she is important. Jesus is specifically concerned with her and her salvation. Just one. He stopped to share the Gospel with one person. This is another thing I love about Because Justice Matters. They believe each woman is unique and worth hearing the Gospel so that they may be saved.

The last thing I want to point out is is in verse 42, "And they told the woman, 'We no longer believe because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this really is the Savior of the world.'" You see this woman was so pumped about this guy who had just given her living water, she forgot all about her drinking water, as well as her shame, and ran into town to tell everyone she could find about Jesus. How I wish I had that passion for Jesus daily! At first, verse 39 says many believed because of what the woman said. But then later they believed because of what He said! Jesus used this one salvation to be able to tell the rest of the town about the Gospel. 

One of the things I am going to start praying for my time in San Francisco while working with Because Justice Matters is that people will see Jesus in me and that the Lord will use that to reveal Himself to them. If even just one woman experiences salvation when I am in San Francisco I will rejoice forever, because I know what one more salvation means. It means one more person will be spending eternity in heaven.

Jackie J 

Engaged!!! :)

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 

This is what the ancients were commended for."

Hebrews 11:1-2

I am engaged to Brandon Moore!!! YAY!!!!!!

First off, I would like to point out the two types of people that will be reading this blog. The first group of people are lumped together because they knew me before my Junior year of college. The second group of people are lumped together because they came into my life sometime between Junior year and today. The first group is thinking "I knew Jackie Jenkins would get married." The second group is thinking "I knew Jackie Jenkins would get married to Brandon Moore." So there is really no need for "I told you so" texts any longer. ;)

Now that we've got that out of the way, allow me to tell you what I'm experiencing right now. I have decided to call it having a "Red Sea" moment. After Moses led the Israelites across the Red Sea to escape the Egyptians who were pursuing them to take them back into captivity, Exodus 14:31 says, "And when the Israelites saw the great power the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant." Can't you just picture them stopping and looking back and the Red Sea and thinking, "Like what just happened?! How good is our God?!"

That's what I am doing right now -- looking back on everything that has happened in my life in the past six days and thinking, "Like what just happened?! How good is my God?!" So many prayer requests have been answered in the past week that I am just overwhelmed with how faithful the Lord has been to me. Brandon is currently a professional baseball player and my fiance! I just don't think my heart could be any fuller than it is right now!

We have been praying for Brandon to get drafted where ever the Lord wants to use him to tell people about Jesus and his love and Brandon got drafted to the Milwaukee Brewers! We are SOOOOOOOOOO excited about that! What a great organization to be a part of!? We can not wait to see what God has planned as Brandon continues to work hard and improve and hopefully move up in the organization!

We have also been praying about  God's plan for our relationship. About a week after we started our relationship I asked Brandon, "So when are we going to get married?" I don't remember his response, but I'm sure it had something to do with prayer. So that's what we have done. We both knew we had really strong feelings for each other, but we also knew that God's plan for each of our lives was way more important than our plans for ourselves. So we kept praying, and praying, and praying.

Now, a year and a month later we are engaged!! I don't know if I can say enough how important Jesus being the center of our relationship is. If Jesus were not in this relationship, there is a good chance we wouldn't be engaged right now. But by the grace of God, Brandon asked me to marry  him at the airport this morning before he left to start his pro baseball career in Helena, Montana. 

The original ring he picked out is not here yet because it had to be special ordered since I have abnormally small fingers and wear a size 4. So, this early this morning Brandon drove to Wal Mart and bought a cute little ring to propose with so I would have something to wear until the real one got here. (Like how adorable/precious/sweet/cute/thoughtful/wonderful/etc. is that?!?!?!) Unfortunately Wal-Mart didn't have any size 4's on hand either so that ring is now in the process of  getting sized as well!! So my current status is two engagement rings and a bare ring finger. . . and I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER!!!

I love Brandon Moore so stinkin' much. But I love my precious Savior so much more. Looking back on the past six days all I have to say is Praise God and Go Brewers!

Jackie J......(for now ;] )

Jesus Christ > Brandon Moore

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength."

 Mark 12:30

Assumption: If a Christian boy and a Christian girl enter into a relationship then their relationship with be a Christ-centered one without any extra effort.

Reality: If a Christian boy and a Christian girl enter into a relationship they have to work daily at making sure it is a Christ-centered one.

To make sure I get my point across allow me to paraphrase:

There is a huge difference in being in a God honoring, Christ centered, Holy Spirit led relationship and being in a relationship with someone who is a Christian. 

A couple of days ago Brandon and I went to an event together called the Hogspy Awards which is U of A's version of the ESPYs. His mom and sister came too and it was a fun night full of pictures, laughing, pictures, food, and more pictures! (Brandon LOVES pictures.) Brandon wore a suit and I wore make-up and spent a good 30 minutes trying to fix my hair. The entire time I was getting ready I was thinking, "I can't wait for my boyfriend to see me!" I had it all planned out in my head from beginning to end. I planned what he was going to say, how many times he would say it, and how he was going to look at me.

While Brandon definitely told me I looked pretty, things didn't go exactly as I had planned. So I got pouty. Not in a 'stick out the bottom lip kinda way' but in a 'I'm gonna be quiet until you repent kinda way.' Not exactly the best way to go about things, FYI. 

Don't get me wrong, I am all for getting compliments from my boyfriend. In fact I think complimenting each other in relationships is very healthy, but I was wanting more than just a compliment. I was seeking Brandon Moore's approval of my outward appearance in hopes that it would fulfill me, give me worth, and make me content. 

Bless his heart. I had just taken the role that Jesus is suppose to play in my life and shoved it on Brandon without even giving him a good luck kiss. Needless to say, Brandon fell short. Why did he fail to give me those three things? Because Brandon is not perfect.

My boyfriend is not Jesus, therefore, he will never be able to fulfill the role of Jesus in my life. When I try to make Brandon equal to my sweet Savior I am sinning by placing Brandon as an idol.

Thankfully Jesus said, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Cor. 12:9) He promises in his word to fulfill me, to give me worth, and make me content. All I have to do is rest in him. 

"And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." 

2 Corinthians 3:18

We are still in the very early stages of figuring how to look like the "reality" relationship as opposed to the "assumption" relationship. Here is what we are learning that looks like.

1) God Honoring 

      - staying pure physically with each other even in our hearts (Ephesians 5:3)

      - respecting one another out of biblical submission to God (Ephesians 5:21)

2) Christ Centered

     - forgiving one another daily and not holding grudges (Ephesians 4:32)

     - showing each other grace just as Christ showed us (whole bible)

     - talking daily about how we can serve Christ individually and together (Ephesians 3:10)

3) Holy Spirit Led

     - asking for through small and large decisions in our relationship (Ephesians 1:17)

     - trusting through faith the Holy Spirit will keep us in the Father's will (Romans 8:5)

Without making an effort to base our relationship on the Lord, we would have broken up a long time ago. Even a good thing -like a Christian boyfriend- can turn into a bad thing if placed equal to or above Jesus Christ. 

Praying for you to have a Christ centered relationship.

Jackie J

Me? Insecure? Never.

"For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of the darkness,' made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ."

2 Corinthians 4:6

Is it possible to feel completely confident and completely insecure at the same time? Ask any cheerleader, and IF they were being honest, you will hear a resounding, "YES!"

OK. So maybe feeling fully both at the exact same time is a bit of a stretch (cheer pun intended), but the line that separates the two opposite states of mind is pretty darn thin. One second you are fully confident in yourself for hitting a stunt and making it look like you have been doing it since birth. Then a quick glance at the cute girl standing next to you makes you rethink every sugar, starch, and trans fat you have had in the past month and you've gone from full confidence to full-blown insecurity in record speed. 

Now I realize some of you reading this may not be able to relate exactly because you never cheered. But surely you can think of a situation in which you were propelled from confident to insecure in .5 seconds flat. Maybe it's simply walking into a room full of people. You can be totally confident standing in front of your mirror because the stars aligned giving you a good make-up and hair day when you decided to wear a new outfit. Then, the moment you step foot in the room insecurity hits you like an invisible brick wall. 

Any of this sound familiar? Or are you trying to ignore the fact that you relate like I did at first. Go back with me to Christmas...

Brandon, my sweet boyfriend, came to Christmas with my family this year. One of the many reasons I love him is his choice of gifts. I love to read, so Brandon buys me books. Specifically, he buys me Beth Moore books. They are his "go-to." I think his thought process goes something like this: "Jackie seems to be having a bad day; I'll get her a Beth Moore book. . . I want to surprise Jackie with a gift; I'll get her a Beth Moore book. . . It's a holiday; I'll get her a Beth Moore book." I jokingly asked him recently what he would do when he ran out of Beth Moore books to buy and I got a blank stare. My future is looking bright, y'all. ;-)

So, naturally, for Christmas I was expecting a new Beth Moore book. Brandon did not disappoint. In front of my mom, dad, nanny, papa, and brother I start to unwrap the book, glance at it, and start to move on to the next gift. 

My sweet nanny says, "Ooooo! Beth Moore! What is it?"

I responded, "So Long, Insecurity."

Nanny then gets a worried look and says, "Oh, Jackie, you're not insecure. . . Right??"

In (what I thought was) FULL confidence, I responded, "Of course, not. I just want to read all of her books."

So, I start reading and a couple things stand out. By the third chapter I'm pretty into it and a thought crosses  my mind, "I wish B hadn't bought this. That way I could have bought it on my Kindle and read it in public without people knowing..."

That, my friends, is the moment I took the first step. I admitted I had a problem. 

I will spare you all the gory details of my deep rooted insecurity, though my 'honest-to-a-fault' personality wants to blog about everyone, but rest assured the root was almost touching the center of the earth. 

One of the main ideas I learned on my journey through the book is that when I say "God, I trust you," I have to mean it. Also, 2 Corinthians 4:6 was a great reminder that as a Christ-follower I have a light inside of me that came from the God who created light. What in the world am I insecure about?! Renewing my mind daily as the bible says and reminding myself of this has made putting my trust in Christ so much easier. 

If your waiting for me to give you the "quick-fix" on getting rid of insecurity you're going to be sadly disappointed at the end. There is no quick-fix. It would take hundreds of blogs. God definitely put a special blessing on Beth Moore as she wrote this book. So go buy it. But not on your Kindle! That's cheating!

Lastly, let me make one thing clear. This book will not fix your insecurity. Jesus will use this book to point you back to him. And how can Jesus bring you back to himself if you have not first had a time in your life where you gave yourself to him? 

My biggest prayer is that through these blogs people will look into their own hearts and do one of two things:

1) Realize that they can never be good enough or work hard enough to get to heaven and accept Jesus as their Savior

2) After accepting Jesus, desire to know him and be like him more and more each day.

Love y'all!!

Jackie J

Heart Breaks

"That I have intense sorrow and continual anguish in my heart."

Romans 9:2

Sometimes your heart breaks. 

Today in my time alone with God I prayed "Lord, my heart is deceitful. It is desperately wicked. Give me your heart. Give me your eyes. Show me how to love like you."

Now before you start patting me on the back, let me stop you. James 1:17 says that every good and perfect gift is from God. That string of thoughts I prayed was a good and perfect gift from the Holy Spirit. My selfish mind would have never thought that on it's own. It's not the first time I've been led to pray this and I PRAY it is not the last. 

Back to prayer... Aren't we funny things? Human beings? Christians? We read the bible and do our best to follow what it says. We read how it says to pray. So we pray with confidence and faith. Then when God answers our prayers we are floored. At least that's how I am. Every time. Especially when I pray for God's heart. 

Today, like he is so faithful to do time and time again, God answered. He gave me a tiny glimpse into his heart. 

1 & 2 Chronicles are books about kings. Kings whose attention God tried to get and hold. Every once in awhile you will see, "He did what was right in the Lord's sight..." but more often you get "He did what was evil in the Lord's sight." Can you imagine doing evil in the sight of the Lord and not asking for forgiveness? What are the implications of this?! You can read "He did evil in the Lord's sight" for months and think stupid kings. 

But... sometimes your heart breaks. 

There are countless kids who have broken home lives. Literally. Countless. They go home from school to broken moms and dads. They go home to distracted moms and dads. They go home to alcoholic moms and dads. They go home to drug addicted moms and dads. They go home to only moms. They go home to no moms or dads at all. God can put them on  your heart to pray for, to love.

But... sometimes your heart breaks.

Too many families have lost ones they loved in an instant unexpectedly. You can be made aware of, pray for, and feel sorry for the fact they still cry every day... Or the fact that a mom won't be there for graduation... Or the fact that a mom and dad outlived their child... Or the fact that a child watched a parent kill someone... Or the fact that the cancer is still there... Most of the time you say a quick prayer for them.

But... sometimes your heart breaks.

You can watch someone get publicly humiliated 100 times.

But... sometimes your heart breaks. 

Sometimes your heart breaks and you want the cheers to stop. Sometimes God lets you see through his eyes. He lets you see someone whose pride is wounded. And it breaks your heart.

You can go to the same place and see the same people your whole life. You can grow up with these people. These 'good' people. These people that mean well. These people that love their kids. These people that work hard. These people that have good morals. You can pray for their salvation. 

But ...sometimes your heart breaks.

Sometimes  your heart breaks for these people that you love who have stored up so many earthly treasures and no heavenly ones. These people who have not accepted Christ as their Savior. These people who refuse to humble themselves before a loving, but just God. 

I can think you need to do a better job of being a city on a hill. I can pray God makes me a light. I can tell myself I'm doing pretty good at living for Jesus. 

But... most of the time I forget to humble myself before an Awesome, Holy God. 

And my heart breaks. 

Please know that the only way you will spend eternity with God is by His grace through your faith. You have confess that you are sinful and that with out Christ death and resurrection you would have no hope. You have to die to your sinful self and give your life to Christ. From time to time your heart will break. Just absolutely break. But all the time your God will never forsake you. All the time you will have the 

Hope of Jesus Christ.   

Dress to Impress

". . . Instead make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way."

Romans 14:13b

Setting: Weekend outing

Action: Girl walks down in to the living room. Dad says she isn't wearing that. Girl whines. Dad puts foot down. Girl changes.

This is a universal movie scene that almost every girl in America is familiar with.

My favorite scene comes from one of the great classic movies, Clueless. Cher walks down stairs in a tiny white dress and her dad says, "What the heck is that?" She responds by saying, "A dress!" Cher's dad fires back with, "Says who??" Cher confidently tells him, "Calvin Klein." Cher ends up keeping the dress on. I usually wasn't as fortunate. 

I remember even back in my early teens going shopping with my mom and getting so upset with her when I couldn't get the cute outfit from Limited Too because it "looked to old for me." Duh, mom. That's the whole point. Look like an 18 year old at 12. Get with the program.

It didn't stop there it continued on to my high school career and, I'm embarrassed to say, even college. The saying she says has evolved some, though. Instead of "that's too old for you" it's now more along the lines of "that's too short" or "that's too low." At that point I proceed to defend myself and explain it's really not that bad because it could be much worse.

Then about a year or so ago she told me something with so much pure love that I was so humbled I couldn't even be mad or upset with her nagging. I'm probably not quoting this verbatim, but I can get pretty close. "Jackie, I know you try really hard to reflect Christ in your life and lead others in how to live for Him but sometimes that is not evident in the way you dress."

Geez. It still stings. 

After that I tried to focus more on my clothing choice, but I have to admit all I really did was focus on who I would be seeing me in those clothes. If I was going to be around adults I knew personally I would make an effort to dress more conservatively. However, if I knew I would most be around people my age I wouldn't be as concerned with whether or not my shorts were close to to my fingers. 

Recently, though,  God has really been working on my heart. 

Before you read any farther I want to make one thing clear. This is not secretly directed to anyone I know personally. So if you are feeling that way - don't. These are my convictions and something that I want to get better at. 

So let's get to scripture. We've all heard the story (and laughed uncomfortably in kid's church) about when God first created Adam and Eve they didn't have to wear clothes. They walked around naked. (ha!) But I want to focus on two verses that come after the fall of man.

Genesis 3:7 "Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves."

Upon noticing that they were naked they didn't just go about their day. This realization was a big enough deal that it spurred action. They made something to cover their nakedness.

Genesis 3:10 "He (Adam) answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."

So now we see a little bit of what Adam and Eve's thought process was. Once they realized they were naked, it scared them. They were so afraid that they hid. I'm sure we can all agree our society has a little bit of a different view of nakedness then the first man and woman did.

Flipping over a few books to Proverbs let's look at a verse dealing with men looking at women. Proverbs chapter 6 verse 25 says,

"Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes." 

OK, I know what you are thinking. That verse is talking about guys looking lustfully at women so what does that do with me? A lot. 

In his song "Praying For You" Lecrae says, "can't even hit up the mall cuz every lady's half-dressed temptin' him to lust and fall." . . . Get it now? Later on in the song we find out that Lecrae is really praying for himself. 

Now am I saying that we should take all the credit for men lusting and they shouldn't shoulder              any of the responsibility? Not. At. All. What I am saying is that we have done a pretty poor job  of helping them out.

Romans 14:13b ". . . Instead make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way." 

This can look like a lot of different things, but in this instance it means stop dressing with the intent of making them stumble!! And remember I am talking to myself most of all! 

I am not saying to wear long sleeves and sweat pants every day. I am saying we have to have a mentality shift. Instead of dressing to impress guys and look sexy (consider the root of that word. . .) dress to impress your Creator. 

God made us beautiful! Each of us! Know the difference. 

I need to start considering who I have in mind when I dress to impress.

Love y'all! Really!

Jackie J

JPRD

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves."

Philippians 2:3

Football is finally here!! Praise the Lord! Hogs won. Hillbillies won. Cowboys won. My football season is off to a great start! Those of you that don't know me that well may be a little confused by the middle team. I am from Ozark, Arkansas and our mascot is a Hillbilly. 

When I moved to Ozark in the second grade I literally thought I would die of embarrassment. Who cares about the fact everything I had known since birth was going to be uprooted and turned upside down and the fact that my precious grandparents would now be one hour away instead of one minute. I was about to be a Hillbilly.

I mean, seriously. I had BIG dreams. At this point my life goal was to be a high school cheerleader. Now I was going to have to say "Go Hillbillies!" Like.... what? 

Luckily, upon moving to Ozark my view changed. I realized that being a Hillbilly was actually pretty cool. And even though I now get some strange looks when I play the "Name, Major, and High School Mascot" game on the first day of classes, I wouldn't change my mascot for anything. Instead of being devastating, cheering for the Hillbillies throughout jr. high and high school became my favorite thing to do. In fact one of my favorite chants to call was "HPRD."

That's it. HPRD. Just chant that over and over again and you can get a small town real pumped up! It stands for Hillbilly Pride Runs Deep. So that's where the title of this message comes from - with a slight altercation. Mine version SHOULD stand for Jesus Pride Runs Deep, right? I mean that would be ideal. 

Unfortunately, recently in my life it has stood for Jackie's Pride Runs Deep. In fact, I probably should have put an extra 'R' in there for REALLY Deep. And let me tell you, nothing is more humbling then realizing just how prideful you are. 

My first red flag should have been when my pastor stood up at church this past Sunday and said we were talking about Pride. I was so prideful that I wasn't even immediately convicted. I thought, "Oh, I need to take good notes so I can help others struggling with pride!" ...... Like really? Bless my heart.

God was quick to set me straight, though. Point after point kept hitting home. By 'hitting home' I don't mean "yeah, I struggle with that." By 'hitting home' I mean "I SUCK." I actually at one point during the sermon leaned over and wrote that on my boyfriends notes. Every single point described me.

1)Pride says my agenda is more important than unity (check)

2)Pride tells me I am more important than I really am (check)

3)Pride is all about me (check)

4)Pride tells me I must continually compare myself to others (double check)

FYI the (check)'s above mean they apply to me. Not good. Especially number 4. 

Philippians 2:4 says, "Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." Translation: Help others. Don't compare yourself to others in any way to try to make yourself look better. Ouch. I know. Stings a little. 

Verse 5 says "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus," then goes on to list what exactly that looks like in the following verses.

So to apply this to my life and your life.... Am I saying that wanting to look good, be in shape, eat healthy, do well in school, grow in your walk with Christ are all bad things? NO. Am I saying if you should reevaluate stuff if you are only concerned with how YOU can achieve all of these things and are only interested in being better than others as opposed to helping others? YES. Join the crowd. 

I'm praying that you and I both can make an effort to live out JPRD with the J standing for the One and Only Savior of this fallen world.

Love you all!

Jackie J